


In Which It's Happily Ever After After All

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Howl Series - Diana Wynne Jones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-20
Updated: 2007-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 06:12:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1635833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Howl promised her a happily ever after, and Sophie thinks he has forgotten his promise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Which It's Happily Ever After After All

**Author's Note:**

> "In Which" belongs to Diana Wynne Jones, "Happily Ever After After All" belongs to DreamWorks and the creator of Shrek the 3rd, and "It's" belongs to the public. Thus, neither the title nor the story belongs to me.
> 
> Written for Marien

 

 

Howl had promised her a happily ever after.

Sophie once thought that a happily ever after with Howl would be eventful, at least as eventful as the month she spent in his moving castle trying to find a way to return to her unenchanted self and to break the contract between Howl and Calcifer. Now, she believed herself to have been deluded. That one month must have been a special one, whether from her being enchanted or from Howl having to hang on to his life, she wasn't sure, but it had been _special_ , and eventful.

Nearly a year after marrying Howl, her life was as interesting as the time she spent sewing hats before everything happened.

During their first few months of marriage, Howl had been an indisputably caring husband, rarely ever leaving her side except when he had to perform menial tasks for the king. At first, it had been sweet. Then it became slightly irritating when she couldn't even clean because of his hovering.

When he stopped and she could finally clean the house over and over again to her heart's content, however, Sophie found herself missing it.

Not that he wasn't a loving husband still--he was: very attentive and sweet in his own way. Only recently, however, did things seem different.

At first, Sophie attributed it to Michael leaving the house to have a month-long internship with Wizard Suliman at Howl's suggestion. "To experience different spell-casting styles," he'd said. And Calcifer, who spent as much time at his usual place in the hearth as he did away, had disappeared for at least a week now.

So Sophie dusted and cleaned and organized the arrays of herbs on the rack and the jars and bottles in the bathroom--which Howl had gotten used to since she used it as much as he did, although not nearly as long--until everything shone bright and clear. She liked cleaning; it made her feel useful.

But, after a year of being in charge of the house, there was very little to clean each day, especially since Howl, the only person who had the ability to turn the place into a pigsty dirty enough to require excessive cleaning, was barely ever home for the past few weeks. He would leave early in the morning and come back late at night to eat dinner and sleep. He still kissed her goodbye and goodnight, and he still whispered sweet nothings to her ears in bed before his eyes became heavy and he fell into a deep sleep and didn't wake up until Sophie roused him the next morning.

Yet it wasn't the same. It felt too much like a routine, same as eating and sleeping. Sophie doubted Howl was even aware of doing those things himself. It reminded her of when he was deep in one of his "chases" and forgot reality even existed. She didn't doubt Howl's faithfulness--flighty he might be, but she believed him to be faithful still, contradictory as such might be. She did, however, feel unsecured, lonely, and restless.

So she decided to visit Lettie at Wizard Suliman's place, ten days after Michael left and three weeks before May Day.

Lettie was ever the gracious host as she greeted and hustled Sophie into the chair in Wizard Sulliman's large reception room, clean and organized and very much unlike Howl's when she first came to his house. Sophie knew it wasn't due to any help on Lettie's part.

Lettie chattered on and on about the various new spells she had learned from Wizard Suliman and about how having Michael there was a great incentive for her to practice her own spells more, even though Martha had jealously came over several times in order to make sure that it was still Wizard Suliman that Lettie was interested in and not Michael. Sophie doubted Martha would have to worry much about that, as Lettie was unlikely to go for the pupil wherein she could go for the teacher.

Then she talked about May Day and about her plans to get Wizard Suliman to take her to Market Square, which Sophie doubted she would have much trouble succeeding.

"Are you frightfully busy, Sophie?"

"No, I'm not," Sophie said without having to pause for thoughts, because she truly wasn't.

"Then would you be so nice as to sew another one of your dresses, like the one you gave me two years ago?" Lettie asked earnestly.

And equally earnestly, Sophie agreed. It would take her mind off things to be sewing instead of wondering what Howl was doing at any moment during the day.

"How are things between you and Howl?" Lettie finally asked.

Sophie really didn't intend to blurt out everything. She believed family problems (was it even a problem) should stay family problems, and as much as Lettie was family, she was now on a different branch of the family tree--or maybe it was Sophie who had strike out with her own branch. But because it was a something she had been mulling over and over again in her head, Sophie couldn't help but saying it out loud once asked, and couldn't stop once started.

When she finished, she was almost prepared to calm Lettie down from the expected rain of insults she would be showering on Howl. However, not only did Lettie not begin to advise Sophie of a million and one ways in which Howl could be cheating on her, she even looked thoughtful. Sophie attributed it to Wizard Suliman's influence. He must have been a much better man than she had previously given him credits for if he could change Lettie so much.

"Have you tried asking him what he's been doing?" Lettie asked, quite reasonably.

Sophie didn't.

"Well, then you should," Lettie went on, still very much the epitome of reasons. "He has come over here several times in the past week looking for Wizard Suliman, so I'm sure it has something to do with another project from the king."

"Yes, it's probably just another project from the king," Sophie said. "I'll ask him tonight."

And ask him she did. Only, after half an hour of simply being out of touch with reality, during which he didn't even seem to hear her questions, Howl was being deliberately obtuse.

"Oh, it's just some works for the king," was his general answer. When she pressed for details, he found ways to avoid answering the questions, just like a slitherer-outer that he was.

He might be a slitherer-outer, but she knew he wouldn't lie to her, and if he said he was doing something for the king, then he was doing something for the king, even if his omissions meant there were things he wasn't telling.

The day after she visited Lettie, Sophie began to have bouts of morning sickness.

It was true that she didn't have a lot of experience in the matter, but after a few days, she knew for sure that she was pregnant. It didn't come as a surprise; whether it was a magical inkling, or just womanly intuition, she had somehow known that it was coming.

 _That must be why I am unreasonably depressed and lonely these days,_ Sophie thought to herself as she happily sewed her day away. She was trying her best to finish Lettie's dress before Martha came to visit and ask for a dress herself, as Sophie suspected she would when she heard of Lettie her making one for Lettie.

Martha did come asking for a dress, a week after Sophie's visit to Lettie. And consequently, she became the first person to learn of Sophie's news of being pregnant.

After the squealing and congratulating were over with, Sophie could finally sit down, hands being clutched in a tight grip.

"Does Howl know already?" Martha asked excitedly.

Sophie shook her head. "No. I haven't told him yet."

Martha looked surprised. "No? But he would be so delighted!"

"Would he?"

"Of course!" Martha exclaimed, looking at Sophie as though she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. "Of course he would! Why wouldn't he?"

Sophie believed that Martha was giving the advice with Michael in mind rather than Howl. Even at his young age, Michael was indeed more mature and fit to be a father than Howl.

Howl... The part of her that wasn't rational even thought that maybe Howl wouldn't even be happy to be a father at all. He was too carefree, even with their marriage and with being tied down, which nobody had previously believed that he would ever let himself roped into being, to really support a family including a child.

Sophie didn't voice her worries, however, because even in her mind, it sounded much like she was doubting her own husband. And, after being the unreasonable one for the past week, she had regained enough of her sense to stop herself from spilling all her insecurities out to Martha like she did with Lettie, although this one would be on a different matter.

"You're right," she heard herself saying to Martha. "I was just being a bit unreasonable. Of course Howl would be delighted to hear that he's going to be a father."

And with that, she forced herself out of her self-doubts and robed herself into the promise of telling him soon. Preferably that night. Or the next night.

In the end, she didn't get to tell him that night, or the night after.

That night, Howl didn't come home. Sophie stayed up until well past mid-night, still sewing and sewing and listening to the drops of rain splatter against the windows, with the absent of Calcifer's cracklings and Michael's cheerful chatters and Howl's teasing sweet-nothings.

When she thought that the loneliness might just get the better of her, Sophie retired to bed. A year ago, it would have been a delight to go to bed after a whole day of sewing and making hats. Now, the bed was too big, and the temperature too cold. Sophie told herself that she was merely being sentimental, side effects of being pregnant. Howl had gone on jobs that took him away from home for several days before.

 _But he has never forgotten to tell me about it before,_ Sophie thought as she tossed and turned in bed. When she did finally fall asleep, it was fitful, and when she woke up, Sophie felt the crankiest she had felt in months, topped with the urge to run for the toilet and empty out her stomach.

So when she was interrupted before she could even make breakfast by an angry girl pounding on her door, Sophie was more than slightly irritated.

"Can I help you?" Sophie asked as she swung open the door.

The girl, probably just a year younger than Sophie herself, crossed her arms over chest and glared at her. "I want to see Howl."

"He's not here--"

"Of course he's here!" she interrupted shrilly. Sophie recognized her as the girl working at the flower shop several blocks down the street, although she couldn't recall her name. "He told me he would be here!"

Sophie suppressed a sigh. "I'm sorry, but he didn't come home last night. I can tell him you've come to see if you'd like to leave a message."

The girl pursed her lips. "No. I think I'll wait inside until Howl comes back. Thank you very much." She started to push her way past Sophie, but Sophie stood firm. She was too cranky and tired to entertain an angry girl today.

"I'm sorry, but you can't come in."

The girl narrowed her eyes, as though really seeing Sophie for the first time. "And who are _you_?" she asked disdainfully.

"I'm Howl's wife--"

"You're not!" the girl exclaimed, almost frightfully. Her eyes were wide and round.

"I'm sorry?" Sophie was lost momentarily that she did not even take offense at being told that she wasn't something she was.

"You're not his wife," the girl said again, as if to herself. "You can't be."

Sophie sighed--she really did not have the patience for this today--and reached out to touch the girl's shoulder comfortingly. The girl flinched and stepped back. Although she didn't know what was happening, the girl still looked quite pitiful that it touched her heart.

"You can't be his wife," whispered the girl, shaking her head. "He's courting _me_."

Sophie's sympathy disappeared quite quickly.

"You're lying," the girl said, this time more firmly, even though it still sounded as though she was trying to convince herself rather than Sophie. "Howl loves me."

"I'm sure he does," Sophie said curtly, "but it is unfortunate that he is not here to proclaim his love for you. So please come back another day." With that, she closed the door on the girl's face. Later, she would experience of pang of guilt whenever she remembered the event, but right then, Sophie was in too foul a mood to care.

All that day, she rubbed and cleaned and paced the floors. Trying to sew with the mood she was in would only wreck a perfectly good dress.

When Howl returned that evening, telling him about her pregnancy was perhaps the last thing on Sophie's mind. She wasn't angry, per se. At least, Sophie didn't think she was. Surprisingly, she still found herself trusting Howl and believing that everything must have been a big misunderstanding. But she was irritated.

"Where were you last night, Howl?" Sophie asked without preamble as the two of them sat down to enjoy their dinner.

"Hmm?" Howl said absentmindedly. "I had to consult Suliman on something." He paused. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before."

He didn't look as though he had anything to hide.

"The girl from the flower shop came today," Sophie said.

At this, Howl did start, even though it was so slight that Sophie would have missed it if she weren't staring at him and if she didn't know him as well as she did.

"Did she, now," Howl said mildly. "Did she say anything?" His voice was a tad bit too nonchalant.

For a second, Sophie debated on whether telling him would be a good idea. In the end, she saw no point in hiding the truth. "She told me that you're courting her."

Whatever she had expected of Howl, it certainly wasn't for him to burst out laughing.

"Oh, she told you that, didn't she?" Howl said after a short bout of laughter, grinning as though what Sophie had just said had not been of seriousness.

"She did."

"Good."

Howl did not elaborate on the matter, and Sophie, vexed with herself and with him, did not pursue the matter. Dinner proceeded in awkwardness on her part, even though Howl seemed to be faring perfectly well; he even finished everything on his plate.

The next day, Calcifer returned, even if Michael didn't. Surprisingly, the fire demon made Sophie's days a lot better, especially since she had silently declared a cold war towards Howl, who was again too absorbed in himself and his personal business to notice or care.

"What's the matter between the two of you?" Calcifer asked Sophie, curious, as she refused Howl's goodbye kiss.

So Sophie told him of her tale with the girl, although not the fact that she was pregnant. Despite the fact that the two of them were no longer bound by a contract, whatever Calcifer knew, Howl would learn of soon after--and Sophie didn't want him to know of her pregnancy while she was still mad at him.

"Oh, I'm sure he didn't do anything bad," Calcifer said. "He didn't have that `air' of being utterly in love with another girl about him."

"I know," Sophie said. She did know. From the very start, she hadn't suspected him of adultery; she trusted him more than that. However, she was more irritated at his current actions. He scarcely seemed to notice what she was doing nowadays, and the way he brushed off her recounting of her encounter with the flower girl without offering an explanation touched a nerve.

For the next two weeks up until May Day, Howl was as absentminded as ever. He didn't even seem to notice that Sophie had gone cold towards him until the day before May Day, when he actually came back early. When Sophie came back from delivering the two dresses to Martha and Lettie, she found him lounging around the house for the first time in many weeks.

Perhaps because he had finally noticed Sophie's foul mood, but Howl became attentive and sweet and caring akin to their honeymoon period. It did little to make Sophie feel better.

On May Day, however, she found herself being hauled of bed early--she was normally the one to wake Howl up--and dressed up in a dress too fancy for her to ever think of buying, or wearing.

"Howl, what--"

Before she could even finish asking her question, she found herself eating an elaborately prepared breakfast--by Howl, it would seem, as Sophie glanced at the kitchen in disarray.

Howl himself sported a sophisticated and elaborated coat, one even fancier than the one she had found him wearing exactly a year ago.

At her dumbfound look, Howl grinned. "How does that taste?" he asked, motioning the dishes in front of her, too many for a simple breakfast, but Howl had never been known as a moderate person.

"It's wonderful." She did marvel at how Howl was able to produce this.

"That's good," Howl said. "Took me forever to learn how to make them from Suliman. You wouldn't think it by looking at him, but that man is the best cook in Kingsbury."

Sophie wanted to ask if that was why he had been spending so much time over at Wizard Suliman's house, but she didn't have a chance to as Howl ushered her to quickly finish her breakfast and dragged her to Market Square.

"But married women don't celebrate May Day!" Sophie protested, a hand holding onto her hat.

"Bah!" said Howl. "You still owe me a May Day dance, as you've slithered out of my invitation last year. And you dare call _me_ a slitherer-outer."

Yes, Sophie had indeed forgotten that today marked the one year anniversary of their meeting.

Last year, she was scared stiff as she approached the crowded streets of Market Square, but this year, with Howl holding tight onto her hands, she found herself actually enjoying the day being accosted by him.

He brought her to all her favorite places, where all the owners seemed to have expected her. For dinner, he brought her to a fancy restaurant that Sophie had only eaten at once before in her life, back when her father was still alive and it had been a special occasion of Fanny's thirtieth birthday. When she looked at him, askance, Howl merely grinned.

"I asked Lettie," Howl said.

So Lettie had also been in on the surprise. That would explain her too calm demeanor when Sophie told her about the Howl.

When it was nightfall and the two of them were returning home, Sophie clung onto Howl's arm contentedly. Perhaps this didn't make up for the four miserable weeks that Howl had put her through in order to prepare it, but it was undeniably sweet of him. (And, really, it was only to be expected of Howl to be so focused on trying to prepare this surprise for her that he didn't even notice that he was upsetting her during those times.)

She made up her mind right then to tell Howl about her pregnancy as soon as she got home.

Which promptly flew out of her mind as soon as she stepped into the house, which was filled with flowers and perfumed candles.

Sophie could tell that Howl was enjoying her speechlessness a little bit too much.

There were many things that she would like to say, many of them different variations of "Thank you" and "I love you," but in the end, what came out of her mouth was, "The flower girl."

Howl chuckled. "Yes, the flower girl."

The last mystery solved.

Sophie turned towards him and impulsively kissed him on the mouth. Howl returned the favor with fervent, and it wasn't until they were both out of breath that Sophie remembered to glance towards the fireplace. Calcifer was conspicuously absent.

"I have a present for you, too," Sophie declared.

Howl looked partly surprised. "Oh?"

"Yes," Sophie said. She gave him a light peck on the lips, smiled, and said, "I'm pregnant."

The pleasantly smug expression that Howl had been wearing the entire day stubbornly stuck onto his face for a second longer before it fell off entirely.

"I'm sorry?"

"You're going to be a father, Howl."

Now, she could understand how he came to enjoy her moment of speechlessness so much.

"Really."

"Yes, really."

"Are you sure that that's a present?" he asked, but a grin broke out on his face and soon he was enveloping her in a hug she didn't know she had so dearly missed these past few weeks.

"I'll make it one," Sophie muttered into his shoulder, hugging him tightly.

Maybe she really did get her happily ever after after all.

THE END

 


End file.
